India, March 5 -- Studying the evolutionary path of the virus can help countries assess their vaccine strategy

Over 600,000 sequences of the novel coronavirus have emerged since the beginning of the pandemic. A group of scientists from across the globe have demonstrated the most effective ways to use this enormous volume of data to track variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus faster.

These can help countries optimise their vaccine strategies and help prepare the world prepare better for pandemics in the future, they said.

The viral and genetic analysis specialists, in a paper published in Nature on March 1, called for more organised processes that will make the most of these analyses and also not burden the existing phylogenetic tools.

Thes...